1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for diagnosing and indicating operational failure in automobiles, and more particularly, to an apparatus for diagnosing and indicating operational failure in automobiles which diagnoses operational failure of electric parts and circuits in automobiles, analyzes the result of the diagnosis and accurately informs a driver of the location where the operational failure occurred.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an abnormal situation occurs during operation of an automobile, that is, when a car malfunctions, safe driving can be seriously jeopardized. Most drivers have little knowledge on vehicle maintenance and are not capable of appropriately coping with such an abnormal situation. For example, when a sudden operational failure or functional deterioration occurs during operation of an automobile, usually most drivers are confused and safe driving is jeopardized. Further, they tend to forget even to think about directly and methodically finding the functional failure and repairing it. Even to experienced driver, it may take a great deal of time to directly find and repair a functional failure.
Basic car maintenance that can be directly handled by a driver are listed in detail in a car maintenance manual. Nevertheless, when an automobile malfunctions while a driver is driving, it is not easy to refer to the manual and find the problem.
In the case of mechanical malfunction, even a driver having car maintenance knowledge may not easily find the cause of the problem. If he/she succeeds in finding the cause of the problem, it is not easy to fix the problem when spare parts and tools to remedy the cause of malfunction are not provided.
Also, in the case of electrical malfunction, even when a driver having considerable knowledge of car maintenance can easily cope with a problem by checking fuses or relays in the automobile, most typical drivers are not able to handle the problem as they have little knowledge thereof. In particular, when a fuse in a fuse box of an automobile is burnt out, most drivers, if he/she succeeds in finding the fuse box, have difficulties in finding out which one of many various colored fuses is not working.
A fuse is generally used to protect electrical devices or electric circuits from being damaged due to an overload. In a complex apparatus such as common automobiles or industrial equipment where many fuses and wiring are needed, an additional fuse box is provided to integrally manage the fuses and wiring. In the case of an automobile, color fuses are used to indicate use of each fuse in the fuse box and a semitransparent fuse is used to easily indicate broken fuses. For general drivers who are not aware of such information, it is very difficult to check the disconnection of a fuse by pulling every fuse out of a fuse box. Also, as the space in the fuse box is very small and since it is usually dark around the fuse box, even replacement of a fuse in the fuse box is not an easy task.
Furthermore, for a sealed part such as a relay used for an automobile, it is nearly impossible for drivers to find a defective relay and pull it out. When an automobile is driven with such a defective fuse or a relay, a part of or all parts of the automobile such as the dash board, various lamps, the windshield wiper, the air conditioner, the audio component, the lighter, the defroster, etc., do not work properly, causing inconvenience during driving and even accidents.